New in Theaters October 30: Burnt, Our Brand is Crisis, Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse

Last week was a major disappointment for new releases as just one film managed to crack the top five, and could only muster up a fourth-place finish. There are three new movies coming out this weekend looking to turn things around - and all three are comedies; one that mixes in horror, one the mixes in politics and one that mixes in... cooking. Yes, hopefully audiences are in the mood to laugh, because if they aren't - well, it can't go as bad as last weekend, right? Right!? At least I can hope, because another weekend like last weekend would be really depressing.

BURNT One can only hope Bradley Cooper is going to have more luck with his down-and-out-chef comedy/drama than he did with the year's earlier Aloha. Cooper plays Adam Jones, a chef who has burnt out (hence the catchy title) and year after flaming out is looking to return to form. Of course he can't do that alone - but, don't worry, he has a great supporting cast backing him up: Sienna Miller, Daniel Brühl, Emma Thompson, Uma Thurman, Alicia Vikander, Omar Sy, Lily James and Matthew Rhys are all along for the grand return. We've seen this before - someone who has all but given up hope returns to the field he once fled only to come out on top. Granted, if you have winning formula, why try to change it - and there are some good names involved. This one is going to be driven mainly by women, so we'll see if that particular audience decides to show up for this or the movie below.

OUR BRAND IS CRISIS Sandra Bullock leads a crack team of political masterminds who find themselves in South America hoping to install a new leader, but has her hands full when a rival jumps in to help the opposition. Besides Bullock you have Billy Bob Thornton, Anthony Mackie, Joaquim de Almeida, Scoot McNairy, Zoe Kazan and Ann Dowd on the political mission. Much like Burnt, I'm thinking women will be more drawn to this, so we'll see which of the two films garner the most attention. I think Our Brand is Crisis seems to have more appeal to men but I think the chances of either one making it to the top is based more on the fact the top films have been out for weeks now rather than their scintillating content. It will be interesting to see if The Martian can finally be knocked back down a peg.

SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE That leaves us with one, final horror film looking to capitalize on the Halloween holiday - Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse. Following in the (misguided) footsteps of Paranormal Activity: Ghost Dimension - Scouts Guide is going to open in a smaller number of theaters and appear on VOD in a short time. That plan seemed to have backfired on Ghost Dimension and I have a feeling that despite looking so much better, Scouts Guide is going to have a similarly disappointing run. Oh well, guess I can look forward to watching it in my home that much sooner but I have a feeling that these results don't bode well for the future of this particular brand of releasing movies.

I don't suspect this weekend is going to generate that many sparks. I don't know if it will be as bad as last weekend, but we can all agree to hold off the excitement until Spectre drops. See you back on Sunday with the final results.